My friends, may I call you my friends? Are you lookin' to start your own army? Are you thinkin' maybe your home needs a little, and I do mean little, more defense? Have I got a deal for you!
For only $1.98 you can order your own 204 Revolutionary War Soldiers. Yes folks, you heard me right. $1.98 buys you 204 hard soldiers!
Go ahead little lady, step right, click on the soldiers to see them bigger.
So you must be saying to yourself which side will I get? Must I choose? No folks, we choose for you. You get, for the amazing price of just $1.98, both the American Blue Coats and the English Red Coats. You'll get 12 crouching infantrymen. 12 cannon loaders. And if you rush now we'll include for the amazing price of $1.98 12 fifers. What's a fifer? Well if you have to ask maybe this isn't the army for you.
You'll be the envy of your neighborhood when they're lined up along your sidewalk each morning as you head off to work. Those shifty eyed criminals driving by will just keep driving when they see there's already a battle going on in your house.
So rush your order in now and have your own Revolutionary War Soldiers waiting for you in your mailbox. No time to waste. This offer is limited and is set to expire in 1963.
Slightly higher in Canada. Sorry folks, but Canadians will have to pay a slightly higher fee of $2.50. And we only accept international money orders. No personal checks.
Act fast before the little fellows run away!
(SOURCE: The Flintstones and Pebbles comic book September 1963)
Posts
A friend of mine ordered these, they were just this THIN flat plastic and really flimsy. Not the regular kind of little green army men.
ReplyDeleteWell that's disappointing. Not surprising, but disappointing. I'm guessing the Sea Monkeys weren't so hot either and didn't really look like a little family of aliens.
ReplyDeleteI swear I remember these, but that can't be...
ReplyDeleteChristine, did you read comic books in the early 60s? Then you remember these guys.
ReplyDeleteEarly 60s? This was in the mid 70s. They were still selling them and still used the same ad!
ReplyDeleteI bought the set; multiple times. I loved them. I just last week took them out and played with them again, for the first time in over fifty years. But, somehow, I could not conjure the same spirit of the little boy who used to play for hours and I put them away after only a minute or two. They are a little hard to balance but work great in a sand box.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, this is the sort of feedback I live for. Someone who actually purchased these items. Great that you kept them. At least I now know of someone out in the net-erlands who has these little guys. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have the original in the box....195 cheap,flat soldiers and cannons. IN 1963, i was very very disappointed. Today? Amazed on how my grandma kept them in the original box...of the 204?
ReplyDelete100 Blue
95 RED...Blue wins.....
the other 9 pieces were in her vacuum sweeper i bet....
the AD was on the back of a comic book.....
Roosterjabber,
ReplyDeleteThat's very cool that you still have them! AND THE BOX! Bless grandma for not tossing them.
how can i buy them?!
ReplyDeleteI would think time travel would be the only way to get any. Or ebay.
ReplyDeleteStill have mine from the late 60s. My son was playing with them today
ReplyDeleteMore good memories! I had the Roman Soldiers, although I was getting a bit too old for such things. They were very cheaply made so were a bit of a disappointment but the couple of weeks of happy anticipation in waiting for them to arrive was worth every bit of the cost. Regardless, a friend and I enjoyed playing with them for a couple of years. I don't recall knowing about these neat Revolutionary Soldiers, the Task Force nor the Convoy Terror sets. If I had, I certainly would have wanted them also, especially the Convoy Terror set. I'm now well into my second or maybe third childhood so maybe with eBay so handy it's not too late.
ReplyDeleteWell isn't that what ebay stands for?
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I sent for these and for weeks and weeks went to the post office to look in our small postal box. I figure that one day there would be a green slip saying to pick up a package at the desk. Finally, I looked through the little glass window one day and there was not a green slip but an actual small box. How could 204 soldiers plus cannons fit into such a tiny box? Huge disappointment.
ReplyDeleteThat is just so sad, but I have to laugh because as kids we just couldn't believe adults would take our money and lie to us. Our parents tried to warn us, but we were often disappointed.
DeleteI am sad to hear it was such a crummy item.
I had the same disappointment as Carson Morton when I saw the tiny box. My attitude didn't improve when I opened it and found the tiny almost 2 dimensional soldiers in hard plastic; several already broken. But I played with the set for a year or so until I got a Marx civil war set that was 100 times better. I actually bought another set several years later when my sister's bf and I wanted to have a small scale war. Quality was much better in the second set with soft plastic 3D soldiers.
ReplyDeleteMarx toes were cool. There are still many I wish I had.
DeletePS: The artwork on the ads was great and really pushed sales. I read an interview with the artist who made the illustration and he regretted being the cause of so much disappointment in so many kids.
ReplyDeleteThat is really fascinating to hear. I think we were all hoodwinked by these old ads, but to hear that the illustrator feels some guilt is funny.
DeleteWow.... glad to see I wasn't the only kid to get this scam... life lesson..
ReplyDelete